French, Italian Police Finger Nigerian Diplomats In Organ Sales

Abuja – Reports by international bodies made
available to Nigeria’s security agencies now suggest that top Nigerian
politicians and diplomats have been major players in the illicit
businesses of human trafficking and organ sales.

The businesses involve Nigerian victims and others from the West African sub-region, going by INDEPENDENT findings.
The
reports – mainly from Italian, French, and International Police
(Interpol) – detail how diplomatic channels are used to integrate
illegal immigrants into countries like Italy, France, and Spain.

Informers have also disclosed that the uncanny practice
involving human organ trafficking – with emphasis on warehousing needed
human parts – may have berthed in Nigeria. The intelligence, in addition
to the gorier details concerning the sale of human organs, fingered
well-connected politicians and diplomats.

As gathered, the
operation begins with ambassadorial appointments/lobbying. This,
according to presidency sources, explains President Muhammadu Buhari’s
choice of ambassadorial nominees. There had been misgivings over the
ages of some Nigerian ambassadors, with some being over 80 years old. In
the Senate, too, lawmakers have decided in favour of career diplomats
ahead of politically exposed persons.
“The effort is meant to stem these clandestine and illegal cross-border operations,” a presidency source explained.

An
Italian secret police source from Rome hinted that reports detailing
Nigerians’ involvement in this criminal enterprise have been made
available to Nigeria’s security agencies and government in several
instances.

“We have made our findings open to them after much
interrogation of some Nigerian suspects in the operations upon request
from your country, as I am aware of, and there was also a joint security
report by my country, Spain, and France at some point, too,” the
foreign source said.

The source said the matter is difficult to
handle because it involved highly powerful PEPs not only in Nigeria but
also in the countries of destination of these trades.

“Powerful
people are involved on all sides and, honestly speaking, the trade
sustains some sectors of the economies in these countries,” the source
added.

Currently, there is a global outrage after the death of
twenty-six Italy bound Nigerian women, believed to be illegal immigrants
on the high seas, recently.

The matter almost sparked a
diplomatic row after Italy buried the women without duly notifying
Nigeria and properly identifying the corpses.

Even more, the
United Nations reacted recently to reports and horrifying footages from
Libya of slave trading of blacks by Arabs believed to be Libyans.

Intelligence reports suggest that most of these victims are targets of organ theft or sex trade.

Some of the victims are sold outright as slaves to out of the way labour camps.

Antonio
Guterres, UN Secretary-General, called on all stakeholders in the
global community to act fast on the matter, describing the trend as
“horrifying” and “a heinous crime against humanity”. But the bigger
worries stem from the more sinister harvesting and trafficking of human
organs across borders.

Only recently, too, Isaac Adewole,
Minister of Health, warned Nigerians who were in the habit of travelling
abroad for health tourism to be careful of organ harvesters. What the
minister, however, failed to explain was that the operation was highly
organised and involved the casing/profiling of would-be victims right
from the Nigerian shores.

As learnt, personal and health details
filed at mission houses were somehow obtained and sent ahead to their
accomplices in foreign countries.

“Some organs are stolen right
in the hospitals where the victims are being treated while they are
under sedation,” explained a medical doctor based in Abuja.

According
to the physician, one of these victims who returned from one of the big
Asian countries reported to his hospital a few days later after
arrival, complaining of health complications. Upon examination, it was
discovered that one of his kidneys was missing. There are fears, too,
that the menace may have started proliferating in the country.

As
learnt, a French police report indicting Nigerian diplomats and
politicians show that the syndicates may have devised new ways of luring
unsuspecting victims to countries where their organs are harvested. “It
is a very lucrative trade that involves not only kidneys,” explained an
intelligence officer in the country who was rivy to the report.
According to him, a single human lung sells for as much as $10,000 to
$20,000.

Human organs remain viable for between four and eight hours, depending on the conditions in which they are kept.
But
with technological breakthrough designed to ‘deceive’ the organs into
believing it is still encased in a human body, organs like kidney,
lungs, heart, reportedly can now be warehoused for more than forty-eight
hours.

“What this simply means is that you can have organ
warehouse in countries with poor regulations and supervision,” explained
the Abuja based physician INDEPENDENT. The European Union (EU) figures
further buttresses that Nigerians are the biggest traffickers in persons
and the biggest victims of the trade. There are suggestions, too, that
not a few Nigerians are victims of organ-harvesting.

For
instance, Nigerians accounted for an estimated 8,700 out of 283,532
irregular migrants entering the EU borders, many of whom risked their
lives crossing the Mediterranean in 2014. In the first half of 2015,
Nigerians ranked 9th of all persons granted international protection in
EUs 28-member states. EU further states that Nigerian nationals are the
most numerous among non-European victims of trafficking in humans, and
they are also the most numerous traffickers.